Why don't my fellow Americans read books anymore?!?

Damnit. Pick up a damn book! turn off the tv! Hell the last time i was even able to have a discussion about something i had read was back in college.
Everyone is more interested in the latest reality tv rehash or something just as stupid.

the worst part of all this is that i feel dumber with each passing month - due to not having any real outside intelectual stimulation.

Move back to your college town. Out here in the "real world", most people just want to be lazy after work, I find myself getting that way more and
more as I get older, and I hate that. I could be goign out for a walkr right now, but instead I'm in here on thi webpage...

I read. I have only turned my television on once in past two months and that was yesterday, I had time to review all of Star Wars because I'm sick at
the moment.
The remote was all mouldy:shk:
Yes read BOOKS,

I think the worst part is how the Internet makes people feel "smart" because they can search and lift one quote about something, but never bother to
read a whole book or body of work.

People think they know Sartre or ancient philosophy or even the bible for that matter because they read a website on it.

People write whole college papers now without ever picking up a book. While that may be fine, it's just different. I really believe people
think differently now than they once did. Which is okay, it's just less of a logical progression of thought than a hyperlinked brain.

We may even indeed be "smarter" than ever, perhaps even on a path to a higher level of conciousness and communicative transfer, but the ride is
bumpy and people don't take the same path like they once did. We don't even speak the same language.

I'd have to agree with RANT....And while at times I fall prey to exactly what you've mentioned, I at least try to quote material online that I'm
familiar with to some degree...

What drives me bonkers is when people try to subtly slip it in as their own, without giving credit where it's due....

I read as often as I can, b/c I know few other people who do - It's almost seen as a character flaw among my peers

....Well - I guess that's
why I'm the only one in my circle who graduated college....

When I lived on my own then, me and my roomates couldn't afford a cable bill, so I went all that time without TV.....Now that I have satellite again
at my parent's house, it stays off 24/7 - I never waste my time watching that crap....

My evenings are spent watching some of the best movies ever made and reading some of the best books ever written, and I feel better about that then
watching Survivor 25: Antarctic.....

When I watch Jay Leno, and I see him do his Jaywalking segement on the streets of America, Im just amazed at how dumb some americans are. For
example, Jay was asking them about the civil war - some didnt know what century it was in, some didnt even know it happened, and one even said "The
Americans won".

One of my favorite things is to read. I surround myself with books....collect em hoard em devour them. Ebay provides me an endless supply of hard to
find stuff to read. I could be that guy burgess meredith played on the twilight zone, where he was the last man on earth with all the books in the
world.

I was in a local Chapters Book Store last week and I was heartened to see some teenagers standing at one of the racks. As I was perusing the racks
just a few feet from them, I could not help but overhear part of their conversation. It seems they were discussing one of the books (unfortunately I
never learned the title) but the gist of the conversation was that one lad asked the other if he was interested in reading the book in question. I
could not believe my ears when the reply was that he WAS interested in the book but that he was going to wait to see if they made it into a movie
because if they did, he knew that it was going to be a good book! Wow....what convoluted logic. I am afraid that this generation is, as my parents
generation would say about my generation, going to hell in a hand basket. Logic and literature have both gone out the window with this generation. I
am afraid that soon reading will become an archaic skill and, ultimately, a new Dark Ages will descend upon us.

I never used to read much at all when I was young, but a couple of years back I read a one of the Discword novels and enjoyed it so much that from
then on I always made sure i had something to read when going to bed, or sitting on the train to work.

I always seem to get funny looks when i'm seen going into my local library, and even funnier looks when I try to discuss a book with someone, rather
than talk about the latest episode of 'Celebritys do yet more pointless stuff - live'.:bnghd:

I believe the problem with our dumb population lies in the education system. School is never fun or inspiring and is more about discipline

than
teaching. The first lesson kids should learn when they go to school is to learn to love learning. Instead we are made to despise it, and as a result
we grow up with an ingrained fear of all that is educational.

We could be a race of super-intelligent beings, but instead we chose to be the planet of the morons.

Im a non american who loves to read books I find the greastist diffcultie is finding a book that I enjoy reading from front to back cover.
Sometimes a gem will turn up in a second hand book store or a school fate.

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